The Fall 2010 Faculty Lecture Series presents: Tales from the hive

The second lecture in the Fall 2010 Faculty Lecture Series, Tales from the hive and other stories of animal intelligence, will be presented by professor Patricia Couvillon of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center, on Thursday, October 14, from 3:30 p.m.- 4:30 p.m. in Hamilton Hamilton Library, Room 301. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The field of comparative psychology was launched in the wake of Charles Darwin's assertions of mental continuity between animals and humans. An early period of anthropomorphic anecdotes of animal intelligence gave way to more serious research with species closely related to humans. Recent work with honeybees, a species only remotely related to humans, has added intriguing complexity to the field. This talk will illustrate some of the ingenious methods developed for research on the learning and memory of honeybees, highlight the most remarkable findings, and also touch on contemporary threats to honeybees in Hawai‘i and elsewhere.

Dr. Couvillon is an associate professor in the Békésy Laboratory of Neurobiology of the Pacific Biosciences Research Center and the Department of Psychology. Her research in comparative psychology focuses on the evolution of learning and cognition across species.

The Faculty Lecture Series is presented each semester by the UH Mānoa Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education, Office of Research Relations, and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library .